The National Basketball Association (motto: "Our 2012 schedule isn't FAN-tastic, but it's not the end of the world!") actually may be doing more than we thought to keep its players out of harm's way.
Come again? Isn't that compressed schedule nothing more than a money-clutching exercise of evil?
Well, not so much. But before getting into that, let's take a look at how the league is looking out for its uniformed partners.
For defenders stranded under the rim when Dwight Howard rises to slam, it has a new concussion policy. There's also a popular embargo on leaving the bench during an altercation, which helps prevent glory-seeking peacemakers from getting socked in the eye.
There are rules to prevent defenders from roughing up guys with the ball. (OK, that's probably more about generating offense and making the NBA easier to watch for those who didn't like the game in the first place.) We even recall the hasty retreat from using a brand-new, finger-scuffing microfiber ball.
And don't forget the wardrobe code which helps citizens avoid mistaking the rank-and-file for ordinary, casually-dressed people.
Yeah, the NBA sort of cares. And it isn't even that awful when it comes to rehabilitating a bottom line previously harpooned by the lockout.
The league may not be fully protecting its players from its desire to make as much loot as possible. But we've all been whining about a compact season that's not as compact as some of the caterwauling would have you believe. As an example, let's look at this month's schedule for the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns, who are the post-graduate version of old school, have 16 games in January. Wow. Brutal. They played a measly 15 in January of 2011. Hmm. Next month, they're required to suit up 14 times, just one more than last February. And they have a back-breaking one more game this March than they had in March of 2011.
One more game per month sort of adds up over several months, but isn't exactly grueling, right?
Overall, they'll play 66 games in 123 days this year after putting in 82 over 171 last season. A little tight, but hardly something to scream about. Sure, the three-in-three-nights deal could be tricky, but players are attempting to recover some lost loot, too. The only legitimate excuse for crabbing over the post-lockout sprint is a lack of conditioning and on-court chemistry-building to open the season.
So, predictably, offense has been rough. The league scoring average is down a significant five points per game, although the pace is close to what it was last season. Maybe the defense is that much better? Or some of the sideways shooting could be attributed to the existence of a few players who thought owner-player negotiations were beyond grim and decided to slack off in their preparation.
Unfortunately, a quality-of-play upgrade -- assumed to occur through better timing, etc. -- may be postponed due to another expected consequence of the season's abbreviated walk up.
Players are getting injured at what seems to be an alarming rate. Well, I'm not sure what the rate is compared to the norm, because wagging an accusing finger at the NBA (even if the schedule doesn't seem so bad) only happens to be a bonus for an attempt to make an even more important point.
What could be more important than shaming the league for providing a smidgen less of the ol' fatigue/injury recuperation time between games?
That's easy. How about embracing the greater impact these injuries may have on which teams end up in the NBA Finals?
A friendly reminder: the schedule may be slightly compressed, but the recovery time from injuries is the same ... or it should be.
This means the 4-to-6-week rehab period will span two or three more games than it used to. That could be tricky in a tight race.
So ... the knee injury separating Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies will require the Grizz to rally much like they did when Rudy Gay was injured (without any lockout assistance whatsoever) last season. Although Memphis did acquire Marreese Speights last week, they may have felt a bit less challenged at power forward in Z-Bo's absence had Darrell Arthur not been lost for the season (torn ACL) before the season began.
It also should be noted that coach Erik Spoelstra and the redemption-craving Miami Heat have embraced the attack philosophy of the Oregon Ducks football team. The concept goes like so: spread the floor and, instead of shooting threes (the equivalent of passing on the gridiron), attack the rim (run the football).
As a result, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have taken about as many threes as a typical fan ripped from the audience for a chance to win a million bucks at halftime. Also as a result, LeBron and D-Wade are going to the hoop like 2-year-olds on a sugar rush. This creates more contact -- meaning more crash-landings for Wade and more pain for those getting in LBJ's way -- and a tiny bit less recuperation time.
With Spoelstra eyeballing the big picture, a sprained ankle (James) and foot contusion (Wade) conspired to keep these superstars out of a recent game with the Atlanta Hawks. At post time, the Hawks had slapped Miami with it's only defeat. Without LeBron and D-Wade ... well, the Heat won in about 11 overtimes. But it could have gone really wrong.
We've also witnessed a stress fracture in the right foot of New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez. Did this have anything to do with attempting to get ready for the season in a shorter period of time? Who really knows? But Lopez may not return in time to to inspire the Orlando Magic into dealing with the Nets if they decide to trade Howard.
With Lopez out (and even after he returns), New Jersey appears to be lousy enough to have a great chance at drafting Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond or whoever emerges as the guy to grab in the draft.
Eric Gordon was healthy long enough to help the New Orleans Hornets knock off the Phoenix Suns on opening night, but his absence (knee) may be enough to assist David Stern's team in ending up with two pretty sweet draft picks this June.
The San Antonio Spurs made the prognosticators look silly for writing them off, but the promise offered by an early run of triumph has been downgraded through Manu Ginobili's broken left hand. And although it's too bad we can't blame the schedule for that, it does make the Spurs' seeding a little more precarious.
What about those pesky Los Angeles Lakers? If Andrew Bynum has his semi-annual tumble, there could be slightly less schedule left than usual by the time his recovery is over. The Lakers also have to deal with the wrist injury to Kobe Bryant, who ... nah, if it gets bad enough, Kobe will just start firin' with his left hand.
The Golden State Warriors were expected to rise behind the genius of Mark Jackson, but Steph Curry -- seemingly feeling obligated to not miss games after a long layoff -- may have absorbed enough ankle pain to keep his team solidly out of the playoffs.
So, with less prep time, there seems to be a greater need for cold-tub ice and an oil change for the team gurney. Coaches will crow about lack of practice time, which is true, but they never have enough practice time.
According to one NBA assistant coach, there's grave concern over rookies being misled by post-lockout circumstance into thinking the scaled-back practices (glorified walk-throughs, really) are typical of life in the NBA.
"They see veterans taking it easy because of the schedule, trying to save their legs," he said. "They think they can do the same thing."
Yeah, that could be a problem.
But even though we'll spend the rest of the season tacking certain tribulations on the lockout, look on the bright side: The games are being played. Maybe we should attempt to compress our irritation into that tasty morsel.
